Thread: Closed Source Packages in Maemo
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Alex Atkin UK is offline Alex Atkin UK
2009-09-25 , 23:27
Posts: 716 | Thanked: 303 times | Joined on Sep 2009 @ Sheffield, UK
#168
Originally Posted by allnameswereout View Post
You just insulted tons of C and Python programmers. has it ever occured to you that if you don't know e.g. C++ you can learn it or hire someone who knows? So lets say you found a bug in PulseAudio. You pay the developer to fix it. With Microsoft Windows that is not possible, whereas almost everything of Maemo is open source. The most important stuff is core software (usually LGPLed libraries) whereas something like Ovi Maps or Google Maps or Mediaplayer can be replaced. The rest of the software does not depend on such proprietary technology. So something like Mer can simply ship without that and be 100% open source, while proprietary software can be programmed and distributed for Maemo without making the OS less free.
I have no disrespect for C and I plan to learn Python once I get my N900. But it does not alter the fact that C/C++ might as well be binary for most people. I do understand it to a point, but not enough to do anything useful. Also talking about hiring a programmer is great if you are a big business, but as an end-user its cheaper to buy a copy of Windows where it "just works".

Funny you should bring up PulseAudio too as ever since Mandriva switched to PulseAudio I cannot get sound to work properly. PulseAudio does not support digital passthru over SPDIF which highlights my point exactly of what for me is the problem with Linux. They happily remove functionality I have been using for years in favour of something new and better, which is not feature complete. Just like how mucked up KDE 4 is compared to KDE 3.

I have also failed to switch back to OSS/ALSA. I uninstalled PulseAudio and got back to ALSA but now have other audio issues and SPDIF still does not work. You just do not have these problems on OS X and Windows.

C/C++ is way above what my brain can handle. A little bash, PHP and Javascript is my limit which is why I suspect I may be able to get into Python a little. But no way do I have the skill to fix the problems I have above. Problems I do not have on Windows 7 as it "just works".

On the other hand I love Linux. It was originally my dialup router and file server, now acts as both fileserver, audio jukebox (when it works) and desktop machine. I would never want to do that with Windows, for a start I would have to buy it first and worry about viruses. But it does not alter the fact, open source is not the holy grail people make it out to be.